Esplanade residents speak out on being forced out

Esplanade resident leader: 'This is a heart-breaking situation to be placed in'

Buy Photo

Shirley Queen, 89, and her husband Leonard, 91, rear, and Jaye Gillet, 89, and her husband Harold, 90, front. They are all residents at the Esplanade in White Plains.(Photo11: Ricky Flores/The Journal News)Buy Photo

That's what angry, upset residents of the Esplanade Senior Living facility said of news that they'll have to leave their homes so the owners can make extensive renovations to "repurpose" the 15-story building and annex into luxury rental apartments.

"This is a heart-breaking situation to be placed in," said 90-year-old Harold Gillet, president of the Esplanade Residents Association. "We're feeling a lot of turmoil about having to find new places to live at this time in our lives. We thought we'd already done the last bit of planning for our remaining years when we moved here — we never thought we'd be put in this position of uncertainty and loss again."

Esplanade Venture Partners, including members of the Scharf family, who have owned and run the facility since the mid-1990s, announced the $35 million plan earlier this month. A proposal submitted to the city calls for both buildings to be gutted, renovated and re-modeled into a total of 212 one- and two-bedroom apartments and studios, along with 9,000 square feet for medical offices and 9,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

The Esplanade is located at South Broadway and Lyon Place, across from where a $275 million plan to construct two residential towers, restaurants and shops is being considered at the now-closed Westchester Pavilion mall.

Elderly residents and their families were told of the decision in a letter sent out shortly before Esplanade Partners outlined their plans in public at a Dec. 7 Common Council meeting. The irony of the Pearl Harbor Day presentation was not lost on Gillet.

"We have about 40 World War II veterans living here," he said.

Gillet, who served in the Navy, is the retired founder of H&H Photographers. He moved into the Esplanade from New Rochelle about 15 months ago with his wife, Jaye, 89, a retired yoga instructor who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease.

Another couple, Shirley Queen, 89, and her husband, Leonard, 91, said that while they understand the owners' desire to increase profits, they're not happy with how things have been handled so far. They said tenants of the Esplanade sign one-year leases, with a 5 percent increase included each year. They moved in 14 months ago and signed a new lease in November, charging them $5,000 a month for two rooms and two bathrooms. The fee includes meals, housekeeping, utilities and other amenities.

"That was kind of a kick in the head, that they had us sign a new lease without saying a word," said Shirley Queen, a retired bookkeeper. "The rumors have been flying around for weeks, ever since they said they were closing the fifth floor. I'm angry at the way they've handled things so far."

In October, families of residents with Alzheimer's disease and dementia were told by Esplanade management that Hearthstone Alzheimer Care, which had operated programs for seniors with memory issues on the fifth floor of the residence for several years, was not licensed by the state health department. The letter stated those services would be discontinued and residents would have to move and find alternate care. The matter is now in court.

Gus Feuerman, 92, and his wife, Shirley, 88, have lived at the Esplanade for 15 months. A retired accountant from the Bronx, Feuerman said he's angry at having to find another place to live.

"They should have given us more notice, and they should be helping out with the expenses involved in moving," he said. "It's not the right way to do business."

The Queens and Gillet agreed that they enjoyed living at the Esplanade, praising the staff as being caring and dedicated.

"They're all going to lose their jobs. I actually feel as bad for them as I do for us," Leonard Queen said.

Esplanade officials have assured the city that residents will be "treated with dignity and assisted with appropriate accommodations during this period of transition."

Management is in the process of meeting individually with each resident and his or her family to discuss their needs. They say they will help each resident relocate and have already distributed a list of other assisted living facilities in the region.

Noting that work won't start on the main building for at lease six months while the city considers the proposal, Esplanade officials said that any residents still there once construction begins can move to the annex, which currently serves as a hotel, where they will receive the same services they now get at the main building.

Geoff Thompson, a spokesman for the Esplanade, said many of the 142 seniors living there when the announcement was made have already found new homes. By Feb. 1, he said, there will be about 68 residents left.

To help them cope, he said the Esplanade's in-house psychologist recently led a discussion on "How to get through the next few months," that was attended by about 40 residents. On Jan. 5, a social worker who specializes in working with seniors will start a support group at the facility to help residents with the transition and relocation.

Gillet said he spoke recently with Doug Scharf, one of the owners, and asked that residents be allowed to stay until January 2017, that all security deposits be refunded, that so-called initiation fees that are equal to a month's rent be refunded, that the Esplanade pay for any initiation fees charged by facilities its residents move to, and that management pay all moving costs.

Thompson said the Esplanade will return security deposits and cover at least some of the moving costs. He said representatives from other facilities in the region have been invited to come in and make presentations about their services to residents. Those landlords will be asked to waive initiation fees for any residents who decide to move to their facilities.

Thompson said the Esplanade "will make every effort to help find new jobs" for its 80 employees.

Despite all the promises and assurances, Leonard Queen said, many residents feel betrayed.

"We were happy here. We made new friends, and we were comfortable. Now, everybody is upset," he said. "We all thought that this was the last move we'd ever have to make. It's not easy."